
Is Hippowdon Good in Platinum Playthrough?
Hippopotas evolves at level 34 or catch wild on Route 228 postgame. AbilitySand Stream sandstorm supports Garchomp and Sand Veil users. Ground-type handles Volkner and Flint's five Fire-types. Bertha uses one on her E4 team. Enormous bulk.
Hippopotas has the type edge here and should clean up Roark's team.
Gardenia's team hits Hippopotas's weaknesses hard.
Fantina's team hits Hippopotas's weaknesses hard.
Hippopotas has the type edge here and should clean up Maylene's team.
Hippowdon trades roughly evenly with Crasher Wake's team.
Hippowdon resists most of Byron's coverage and hits back hard.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Candice's team.
Hippowdon resists most of Volkner's coverage and hits back hard.
Hippowdon trades roughly evenly with Aaron's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Bertha's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Flint's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Lucian's team.
Hippowdon resists most of Jupiter's coverage and hits back hard.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Mars's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Saturn's team.
Hippowdon trades roughly evenly with Cynthia's team.
Catch Hippopotas
Catch Hippopotas in Ruin Maniac Tunnel (walking, Lv 22-24, rare).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 22)
- LV 22NormalYawnPower —Accuracy 100%PP 10
- LV 31DarkCrunchPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Maylene
- TM06PoisonToxicPower —Accuracy 85%PP 10Route 212
- LV 37GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
- After Crasher Wake
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Iron Island
- LV 44NormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15
- Post-Game
- TUTORGroundEarth PowerPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10Survival Area
- TUTORFightingSuperpowerPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 5Survival Area
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
Evolve Hippopotas to Hippowdon
Hippopotas evolves into Hippowdon at Level 34. Your Hippopotas should hit Level 34 before you reach Crasher Wake, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 34)
- LV 34DarkCrunchPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Fantina
- TM68NormalGiga ImpactPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Game Corner
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Department Store
- LV 40GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
- LV 50NormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15
- Post-Game
- TUTORGroundEarth PowerPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10Survival Area
- TUTORFightingSuperpowerPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 5Survival Area
- TUTORSteelIron HeadPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Survival Area
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
How to Get Hippowdon in Platinum
Hippowdon walks the desert-like Route 228 in the low fifties, common by day and rarer at night. That one late sandy route is where the adult roams, though leveling a Maniac Tunnel Hippopotas to 34 works too.
1 location to catch Hippowdon1 location to catch Hippopotas
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Catch Hippopotas at any of the 1 location below, then level it up to 34 — it evolves into Hippowdon.
Where To Catch Hippowdon in Pt
The only way to get Hippowdon during the story is evolving Hippopotas (Lv 34).
Step 2Hippowdon ✓or evolve from Hippopotas (Step 1)
To plan your throws, open the Platinum catch rate calculator with Hippowdon preloaded.
How to Get Shiny Hippowdon in Platinum
Hippowdon lumbers through the grass on Route 228, common enough to chain to 40 for a shiny. Compare Shiny Hippowdon odds across every game
Platinum Shiny Hippowdon Calculator
3 MethodsThe best route is PokeRadar Chain at full boosts, about 1 in 200 on each try. Tune it below.
PokeRadar Chain: Chain shaking-grass patches without breaking the combo. The rate peaks at a chain of 40.
Masuda Method: Breed with a parent from a different-language game. Works on any breedable line.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 22-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 58-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 139-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 460-- | -- |
Time assumes -- at your pace and does not change your shiny odds.
How is this calculated?
Every encounter has the same shiny chance, the Shiny Odds Per Try shown above. Each one is a separate roll that does not care how many you have already done, so the more you hunt, the higher your overall chance of at least one shiny. The formula below turns your odds and your number of tries into that combined chance.
chance after N tries = 1 − (1 − p)^N, where p = 1 / odds per try
Example at 1 in 8,192 (classic full odds): about 864 encounters for a 10 percent chance, 5,678 for 50 percent, and 18,862 for 90 percent.
The table above flips that around: it shows how many encounters it takes to reach a 10, 25, 50, and 90 percent chance at your current odds. Turning on boosts like the Shiny Charm, sandwiches, or chains improves your odds, so the encounter numbers drop.
These are estimates, not promises. Most games have no pity counter, meaning no guaranteed shiny no matter how many you hunt, so even Very Likely is not guaranteed: some hunters find one early, others go well past that point.
For time estimates and charm math, open the Platinum shiny odds calculator with Hippowdon already selected.
Hippowdon Weakness
Type-wise, Hippowdon takes extra damage from Water, Grass, and Ice. Electric moves do nothing thanks to a full immunity. Hippowdon's physical bulk (base 118 Def) helps cushion physical weakness hits, but special attackers are the bigger threat.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Water, Grass, Ice |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Poison, Rock |
| 0x (Immune) | Electric |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Hippowdon Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Hippowdon
Tropius Grass | C | |
Exeggutor GrassPsychic | C | |
Available Move Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Exeggutor builds →Leaf Storm 2x135-160%KO | ||
Roserade GrassPoison | B | |
Carnivine Grass | C | |
Palkia WaterDragon | S | |
Obtain MethodSpear Pillar Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Palkia builds →Surf 2x108-127%KO Ice Beam 2x72-85% | ||
Articuno Ice | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Articuno builds →Ice Beam 2x74-87% Water Pulse 2x31-37% | ||
Cacturne GrassDark | B | |
Torterra GrassGround | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Turtwig (Route 201 Gift) | ||
Tangrowth Grass | C | |
Victreebel GrassPoison | C | |
Available Move Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Victreebel builds →Leaf Storm 2x112-132%KO | ||
Shiftry GrassDark | C | |
Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
Abomasnow GrassIce | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Abomasnow builds →Wood Hammer 2x61-71% Ice Beam 2x72-85% Water Pulse 2x30-36% | ||
Kingler Water | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Kingler builds →Crabhammer 2x67-80% Ice Beam 2x30-36% | ||
Hippowdon Evolutions
Hippowdon is the evolved form of Hippopotas. Breeding produces Hippopotas eggs, and they are slow to hatch. Evolving from Hippopotas gave Hippowdon the biggest boost in HP (+40), bringing the total to 525 stats. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Hippowdon to get Hippopotas eggs easily using 131 partners from the Field egg group. Notable egg moves include Body Slam, Curse, Sand Tomb and 4 more.
Pt Hippowdon Best Moveset
One of the best physical tanks in the game: 118 Defense at 108 HP absorbs physical attacks while AbilitySand Stream chips opponents and boosts Rock-type Sp. Def by 50%. The moveset sets MoveStealth Rock and outlasts everything through pure durability.
Best Build
Hippowdon best EVs are HP and Defense
Wall Moveset
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
The egg pool carries weight here. Body Slam and Curse aren't available any other way for Hippowdon, and they meaningfully change what it threatens. Stack those on top of Earthquake and Earth Power for solid options.
How to Read the Moves Table
Tabs
- Level-Up
- Learned by leveling up.
- TM
- Taught by a Technical Machine.
- Egg
- Inherited via breeding.
- Tutor
- NPC tutor (cost: items, BP, money).
- Reminder
- An NPC reteaches any move this Pokemon could have learned by leveling up.
- Transfer
- Carried over from an older game using Pokemon HOME.
- Event
- Given out through Mystery Gift events.
Visual Signals
CAT (Category)
How the move deals damage and which stats it uses.
A small dot on the icon's corner marks the move as contact. That triggers abilities like Static, Flame Body, Rough Skin, or Iron Barbs, plus items like Rocky Helmet and Sticky Barb.
Tier (S to D)
Each move's competitive rank in RankedBoost's system. TM, Egg, and Tutor sort by tier by default (best first). On Level-Up, click the Tier header to do the same.
PWR (Power)
Base damage. Numbers shown in a type color include STAB (base × 1.5). Hover any colored number to see the math.
— means no power (status moves) or variable power.
Sorting & Filter
Click any column header to sort. Level-Up opens with Lv 1 at the top. TM, Egg, and Tutor open with the highest-tier moves at the top.
Search filters by move name or type. The Filter button limits the list to STAB, Physical, Special, or Status moves.
Level-Up Moves
TM Moves
28 of 30 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It is surprisingly quick to anger. It holds its mouth agape as a display of its strength.
Hippowdon Platinum Guide
In Platinum, Hippowdon plays as a tank. Not the fastest, so pick your spots carefully. Earthquake is the primary attack.
In Platinum, Impish is the go-to nature for Hippowdon. That's +Defense / -Sp. Atk. Pair it with 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def EVs. Fits the tank role.
Game Availability
Hippowdon first appeared in Diamond & Pearl and has been available in 14 games across 6 generations. Obtainable through wild encounters in most titles where it appears.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB

Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS

Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RS

Ruby & Sapphire - Gen 3E
Emerald - Gen 3FRLG

FireRed & LeafGreen - Gen 4DPDebut

Diamond & Pearl - Gen 4Pt
Platinum - Gen 4HGSS

HeartGold & SoulSilver - Gen 5BW

Black & White - Gen 5B2W2

Black 2 & White 2 - Gen 6XY

X & Y - Gen 6ORAS

Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire - Gen 7SM

Sun & Moon - Gen 7USUM

Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon - Gen 7Let's Go

Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee - Gen 8SwSh

Sword & Shield - Gen 8BDSP

Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl - Gen 8PLA
Legends: Arceus - Gen 9SV

Scarlet & Violet - Gen 9LZA
Legends: Z-A - Gen 10WW

Winds & Waves
Explore
Where to go next after Hippowdon.
